NY City Preparing Special Anti-poverty Program for Jews, JTA Told

A source at City Hall told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that a city-wide Jewish anti-poverty program utilizing government funds, was expected to get underway sometime in Sept. The source said that the program would have an initial funding of at least $1 million but could not disclose the origin of the funds at this time.

According to the source, the program is the outgrowth of consultations between city officials and representatives of city-wide and local Jewish groups which have been going on for the past two months and are still in progress. He said the discussions were to determine how the local Jewish communities want the program to proceed.

The source said the government monies would be directed to the neighborhoods where Jewish poor reside through various local Jewish groups in those neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are within the city’s 26 officially designated poverty areas but the program is designed to benefit poor Jews living outside those areas as well, he said. He said the funds allocated to the program would be earmarked exclusively for the promotion of Jewish interests in the designated areas.